The Golden Cage

This new exhibit is celebrating the Mexican migrant workers in the local Vermont dairy farms. DP

Focusing in on Vermont's hidden migrant worker population
By Roz Vara

middleburycampus.com: The Vermont Folklife Center was filled to capacity Friday night as it welcomed the opening of its newest exhibit, "The Golden Cage: Mexican Migrant Workers and Vermont Dairy Farmers." Through a combination of photographs and interviews, the multimedia exhibit offers a glimpse into the life of Vermont's dairy farmers and migrant workers - who they are and what they hope for.

"We want them [migrant workers] to be seen as fellow human beings, ordinary brothers, mothers and fathers, not just illegal aliens," said Chris Urban, the man behind the project. Urban, who conducted and recorded audio interviews with farmers and migrant workers throughout Addison County, worked in conjunction with photographer Caleb Kenna to create the exhibit.

Both Urban and Kenna insist that the exhibit is in no way political; rather it is only an attempt to raise awareness in the community and the state at large.

"We want to humanize the situation, to show that they are real people facing real issues, crossing boarders, riding in vans for days and living with the fear of being deported," Kenna said. "I would see workers around town and I always wondered who they were, where they came from and what they were doing here. I hoped that this project would answer some of those questions for us."

Today there are roughly 2,000 migrant workers throuhout Vermont and almost 500 in Addison County alone. The majority of the workers hail from Mexico and earn $7 to $8 an hour in the state's dairy industry where they fill critical jobs as farm hands doing the majority of the milking, cleaning and general farm maintenance. Because most of the workers are living in the United States illegally, they are forced to live in isolation at the farms. Few have drivers licenses or speak English and many are frightened to leave the safe confines of the farm for fear of being caught and deported.
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